Rocks OffRip This JointShake Your HipsCasino BoogieTumbling DiceSweet VirginiaTorn and FrayedSweet Black AngelLoving CupHappyTurd on the RunVentilator BluesI Just Want to See His FaceLet It LooseAll Down the LineStop Breaking DownShine a LightSoul Survivor

What are your thoughts on this album?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-26 13:03 by DandelionPowderman.

The peak of their producing and the manifestation of Rhythm and Blues. Never before and after they were nearer at their quintessense and more authentic. Rougher and more simple in the arrangement than Sticky Fingers, Mick Taylor restrains his virtuosity, but never this album would have been brought to light without his influence.

I don´t know why this album is so highly praised. There are better Stones-albums before and after it. It is nice indeed, but too long. So at times it gets a bit boring, since some songs are very average. And it has too much horns on it.

To make this album a REAL GREAT ONE you have to remove Shake Your Hips, Casino Boogie, Sweet Black Angel, Turd On The Run, Ventilator Blues and Just Want To See His Face. In the best case these are classic b-sides that should not surface on an album. Mabey Soul Survivor should be excluded too, I´m not sure.

The remaining songs are without doubt outstanding highlights in their career. The Bonus-CD of the Deluxe-Version is really poor, most of the songs on it are not worth to be released. I was really disappointed at first hearing. Never gave them a second chance, it would only be a waste of time. On the other hand, the Bonus-CD that comes with Some Girls is almost better than the original album. But that is another story.

If Exile was a single LP, it would be my second-best loved Stones record. Exile contains at least the maybe best ballads they have ever written: Sweet Virginia, Let It Loose & Shine A Light. Real gems all of them, equalled only by Memory Motel and Losing My Touch.

My favourite album. It is perfect as it is, no song should be taken out (and neither, here I agree with HMS, should any song have been added when they did the deluxe version).It's the album I listen to most, it never tires.

A great album that will always create these marvelous debates about fillers, preferences and wheather it should be a single or double album. For me it´s the fact that it is double that gives the album its scope, depth and atmosphere.

Perfection in every way. This would be my desert island album. Not a bad song on it, the Stones at the top of their game. The whole recording is soaked in booze and pills and powders with a sprinkling of sex....just how Rock n Roll should be made.

QuoteRobertJohnsonThe peak of their producing and the manifestation of Rhythm and Blues. Never before and after they were nearer at their quintessense and more authentic. Rougher and more simple in the arrangement than Sticky Fingers, Mick Taylor restrains his virtuosity, but never this album would have been brought to light without his influence.

This suggests the album wouldn't have been made or at least released had Taylor not been present.

I'm curious as to what you mean by this: perhaps that without Taylor the band wouldn't have been in existence; they wouldn't have released an album in 1972; they would have produced something so dissimilar to this album that the two products wouldn't be comparable...?

I'm intrigued by your use of the phrase 'brought to light' (revealed, shown).

Underrated by many critics and rock-fans alike, though overrated by some fans of the Rolling Stones. Of course, it's a very, very fine album - one of the best, in my opinion - yet, I do prefer the three studio-albums that precede it; Let It Bleed, especially.

QuoteHMSI don´t know why this album is so highly praised. There are better Stones-albums before and after it. It is nice indeed, but too long. So at times it gets a bit boring, since some songs are very average. And it has too much horns on it.

To make this album a REAL GREAT ONE you have to remove Shake Your Hips, Casino Boogie, Sweet Black Angel, Turd On The Run, Ventilator Blues and Just Want To See His Face. In the best case these are classic b-sides that should not surface on an album. Mabey Soul Survivor should be excluded too, I´m not sure.

The remaining songs are without doubt outstanding highlights in their career. The Bonus-CD of the Deluxe-Version is really poor, most of the songs on it are not worth to be released. I was really disappointed at first hearing. Never gave them a second chance, it would only be a waste of time. On the other hand, the Bonus-CD that comes with Some Girls is almost better than the original album. But that is another story.

If Exile was a single LP, it would be my second-best loved Stones record. Exile contains at least the maybe best ballads they have ever written: Sweet Virginia, Let It Loose & Shine A Light. Real gems all of them, equalled only by Memory Motel and Losing My Touch.

The day you start to dig Just Wanna See His Face, is the day you'll get it.

I'm one of those who didn't get it when I first heard it. Actually checked it out from my high school library and brought it back the next day after a disappointing first listen.

Since then I totally get it. I wasn't the slightest bit influenced by other peoples reviews but as I started to hear more of this record that everybody I knew had, I started to like it more. In fact I probably like it more now than I ever did.

It's been discussed to death but the fuse on this record is so long I'm still wondering if the final charge has gone off.

I also think this was the last real genius we got of Keith and that it was very much his baby musically. Sure he has written a couple of gems since then but nothing compares to these days when he was the de facto musical boss and everything he touched was golden.

QuoteNaturalustI'm one of those who didn't get it when I first heard it. Actually checked it out from my high school library and brought it back the next day after a disappointing first listen.

Since then I totally get it. I wasn't the slightest bit influenced by other peoples reviews but as I started to hear more of this record that everybody I knew had, I started to like it more. In fact I probably like it more now than I ever did.

It's been discussed to death but the fuse on this record is so long I'm still wondering if the final charge has gone off.

I also think this was the last real genius we got of Keith and that it was very much his baby musically. Sure he has written a couple of gems since then but nothing compares to these days when he was the de facto musical boss and everything he touched was golden.

QuoteNaturalustI'm one of those who didn't get it when I first heard it.

Same here. Short story: I was 15 years old when I got a cassette with the (almost) entire record, but at that time I only knew their greatest hits, so when I first heard it I thought "what the heck?!?". It took me some years to fully enjoy this record, and nowadays even Pussy Galore's 1986 version sounds fine to me, on occasion.

QuoteRobertJohnsonThe peak of their producing and the manifestation of Rhythm and Blues. Never before and after they were nearer at their quintessense and more authentic. Rougher and more simple in the arrangement than Sticky Fingers, Mick Taylor restrains his virtuosity, but never this album would have been brought to light without his influence.

This suggests the album wouldn't have been made or at least released had Taylor not been present.

I'm curious as to what you mean by this: perhaps that without Taylor the band wouldn't have been in existence; they wouldn't have released an album in 1972; they would have produced something so dissimilar to this album that the two products wouldn't be comparable...?

I'm intrigued by your use of the phrase 'brought to light' (revealed, shown).

I mean that Mick Taylor was deeply influenced by his membership in John Mayall's Blues band. So he reinforced the tendency to the Blues, which took place in the band again from Beggars Banquet onwards. So Exile becomes an album without any commercial compromise. I doubt that this anticommercial radicalness would have been possible without the second Mick. Please, bear in mind that in 72 the Stones were the undisputed number one in the world of music. Thus there was a massive temptation to go on the safe side in producing some mechantable average.

"bring sth. to light". Yes, in the sense of revealing or to make a manifestation. Maybe it is a little bit German English ...

QuoteThrylanThe day you start to dig Just Wanna See His Face, is the day you'll get it.

Maybe not even the Stones dig Just Wanna See His Face

It's my best metaphor for the whole thing- to most, it is the most inaccessible track. I like others skipped around the 4 sides a lot for awhile. Then it happened, I was probably stoned, and wham! I realize I am groovin like a Mofo to this and other deeper cuts. Then you start picking up on the nuances- The way TD rls, and sort of "summarizes" the first side......etc.

QuoteThrylanThe day you start to dig Just Wanna See His Face, is the day you'll get it.

Maybe not even the Stones dig Just Wanna See His Face

It's my best metaphor for the whole thing- to most, it is the most inaccessible track. I like others skipped around the 4 sides a lot for awhile. Then it happened, I was probably stoned, and wham! I realize I am groovin like a Mofo to this and other deeper cuts. Then you start picking up on the nuances- The way TD rls, and sort of "summarizes" the first side......etc.

I didn't even listen to it when it first came out and I'm glad for that because I wouldn't have gotten it back then. I think most people need some life experience before they can truly appreciate the brilliance of Exile on Main Street...and that's my humble opinion.